In recent days there have been some loathsome and opportunistic attempts to demonise vulnerable refugees by conflating them with terrorists – the very people they’re running from. This is morally reprehensible.

It was a ghastly new low to see one newspaper’s cartoonist insinuating that some of those fleeing across Europe’s borders were vermin; imagery that conjures up worrying parallels with the language used grimly effectively in the run-up to the second world war and in Rwanda’s darkest days.

At a time when people are desperately trying to make sense of the senseless, the cartoon’s intent seems clear. Mixing refugees, Muslims, terrorists and rats together stokes public anxiety and encourages division at a time when unity is sorely needed – a highly irresponsible and potentially dangerous act.

Understandably, questions have been raised about whether or not terrorists have been able to travel alongside refugees, exploiting the chaotic system that currently meets people arriving in Europe via sea.

To turn on refugees because of Paris is weak and absurd | Ian Birrell

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This year, more than 800,000 people have arrived on Europe’s shores after being forced to flee brutal conflict, persecution and the murderous advance of terrorist groups including Islamic State. The UN’s Refugee Agency estimates that 85% of all arrivals so far this year are from the world’s top 10 refugee-producing countries; places where terror, persecution and conflict are rife.

Of course it’s in nobody’s interests for refugees to be forced to travel by irregular means but Europe’s current immigration policies leave them with little choice other than to place their lives in smugglers’ hands in order to find safety.

But it doesn’t have to be that way: we know that and our leaders know it too. Yesterday’s arrival of the first of many scheduled charter planes full of Syrian resettled refugees is testament to that fact.

The men, women and children who arrived in Scotland on Tuesday are among the most vulnerable people who have escaped the bloody Syrian conflict; people who, if Britain hadn’t stepped up to offer them safe haven, may not have survived. As they disembarked in Glasgow they took their first steps into their new lives in safety.

European governments must urgently offer refugees more safe, legal and well managed alternatives like the Syrian resettlement programme in order to prevent so many people from being forced to risk their lives on rickety boats crossing the Mediterranean.

We have many of the solutions at our fingertips; implementing them just requires political will and leadership. In the short term, we need to see more support given to the countries on the borders of Europe so they can properly screen and manage the refugees arriving. Then we need to see a more equitable system for sharing responsibility across Europe for protecting the desperate people who arrive on our doorstep. This isn’t just a job for the Greeks and the Italians; they don’t have the ability to deliver a continent’s worth of compassion alone.

We must also offer other escape routes aside from resettlement to refugees fleeing war zones; these could include offering humanitarian visas to allow people to travel safely and legally, or issuing more family reunion visas so that refugees already in the UK are able to bring their loved ones trapped in conflicts to live with them here in safety.

If the Paris attacks have taught us anything, it is that we should open our arms to, not turn our backs on, those fleeing terror. The world was moved by the response of Parisians who rallied round to help one another on Friday night – opening their doors and homes to people fleeing the murderous attacks. We should follow this example by offering safety to others who need it. We cannot leave refugees fleeing to Europe from these very same terrorists and brutal regimes without safe haven.

The whipping up of a frenzy of fear and suspicion about refugee arrivals, so starkly demonstrated by this cartoon – an image with a wide reach and a dangerous message - not only demonises vulnerable people, but it could also risk playing right into Isis’s hands; the idea of Syrian refugees finding a safe home in Europe would not go down well with the “clash of civilisations” narrative that Isis desperately attempts to propagate. A hostile, unwelcoming Europe that pulls up the drawbridge and leaves refugees to die would be much more convenient.

We cannot give them what they want. We cannot use these deplorable events as an excuse to turn our backs on vulnerable refugees; compromising our most cherished values in the face of terror. We cannot let them divide us. We cannot let hatred and fear win.